Seven Power Plant ideas TV studio a possibility

Seven ideas, including a children's museum, for using the vacant Power Plant on Pier 4 in the Inner Harbor have been submitted to the city's downtown development agency.

Also among the possible uses for the 106,230-square-foot building are an art museum, restaurants, a high-tech information center and a television and video production studio.

The deadline for submitting proposals was Monday. A committee will be appointed to review the proposals, said Gillian Bishop, a development officer with Center City-Inner Harbor Development Inc., the downtown development agency.

A theater complex is likely to be one of the uses. Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke announced in August that the city is negotiating with the Baltimore Center for the Performing Arts to operate a theater in the north portion of the building.

Bishop said that the proposals received from the other groups are for space that would be unoccupied by the theater. All groups submitting plans were asked if their activities would leave room for a theater.

The former Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. plant was sold to Six Flags Corp., which invested $35 million to convert it to an indoor amusement park. The attraction opened in 1985 and closed less than two years later. The P.T. Flagg's nightclub continued to operate in a portion of the building, but it closed early this year.

Last fall, the city bought the building back from Six Flags for $2 million and intends to lease it to the next developer. No city funds have been budgeted for the project.

The seven proposals to be considered by the development agency are are:

* A presentation of contemporary art and traveling exhibits submitted by the Baltimore Museum of Art.

* A children's and living history museum, and a resource center with community activity programs, submitted by the Maryland Children's Museum Inc.

* A high-tech information center, dining and entertainment facilities submitted by the World Trade Center.